Bacteriological .Studies of the Fixation of Nitrogen. 5 
In driving through those districts which are suffering with this 
trouble, the most striking feature to one not conversant with the symp¬ 
toms is the brownish, black and, to all appearances, wet condition of 
the soil. This can be seen along both sides of the travelled road, and 
often extends to the irrigating ditch, or fence on either side, and into 
the adjoining fields. I think of nothing which describes the color 
better than the appearance of soil where crude oil has been spilled, 
as is done frequently in orchards where oil pots have been used in 
heating, or, if you please, where the roads have been sprinkled with 
oil. A typical case of this sort is illustrated in Fig. 1, page 4. 
Considerable disappointment is experienced, however, when this black¬ 
ened surface soil is examined for it is often found to be a dry crust, 
rather than a wet one, one-fourth to one-half inch in thickness, under¬ 
laid with one or two inches of material of a very mealy character, be¬ 
neath which the soil looks like any other soil. Sometimes the surface 
is so moist as to be slippery, due, probably, to the presence of quan¬ 
tities of deliquescent salts. As one walks over a field in this condi¬ 
tion and breaks through the hard crust, the sensation experienced has 
been likened to walking on corn meal or ashes. 
Concerning the condition of the soil met with under the mealy 
layer, I can not go into details since Dr. Headden has treated this 
phase of the question very fully and completely in his publications, suf¬ 
fice it to say that free water is seldom found nearer to the surface 
than five feet, and in most cases the soil is in what would be consid¬ 
ered a nice moist condition; again in the heavier lands, we may expect 
and do find them rather sticky near the surface and of a gumbo char¬ 
acter as the water plane is approached. 
The brown color often appears on the banks of the irrigating 
ditches, eight to ten inches above the level of the water, and along the 
upper edge of the irrigation furrows. Extending lengthwise of these, 
it manifests itself a few days after irrigation as broad bands of pig¬ 
ment which might easily be mistaken for manure stains, so far as color 
is concerned, especially if the field or orchard had been fertilized re¬ 
cently. It is not uncommon to find large tracts of land where the ni¬ 
trates have become so abundant as to be deleterious to the crops, yet 
no discoloration is apparent on the surface. It is difficult to say in 
such instances whether no color is being produced or whether it is 
developing so gradually and uniformly that it can not be detected 
readily. 
The economic outlook of this problem is, indeed, a serious one. 
Bushels of wheat have been planted on heavy nitre soils, and if it ger¬ 
minated at all, only a very small percentage ever came through the 
ground. Oats and barley have suffered the same fate. Corn has 
germinated in some fields, and made a sickly, yellow growth of six 
inches to a foot and then died. Sugar beets, if they grew at all, have 
gone to tops, while the roots have taken on all sorts of abnormal, ir¬ 
regular shapes, typical “tub-beets,” to say nothing of the inferior qual¬ 
ity of the beet from the sugar standpoint. Dr. Headden has collected 
